2015: Post 36 – Four Frogs and a Toad

Our annual Avondale night paddle, led by Alex, took place last night.  It was a very calm, and warm night.   

I took a bunch of pictures but a lot of them were blurred, or just did not come out sensibly... but here are a few of the better ones...

Gearing up on the slipway in Avondale

Heading out

Darkness began to descend upon us

We paddled over to Conception Harbour to have a look at the ship wrecks in the dark.  Most of us have seen them many times in the daylight, but it's much more fun to have a look at them in the dark...  If you submerge your flashlight under the water you can make out portions of the boat wrecks below...

Spooky!!!

There was a lot of bio-luminescence in certain spots as we paddled back towards Avondale... sorry no pic.

The highlight of this paddle is the take-out at Ballyhack Cove, where we always have a little fire.  Some of the guys brought along a few scraps of wood from home, and a few of us scrounged up what we could find in the little cove, which generally isn't much.

I've heard the stories of Alex using a flare to light fires, but I had never witnessed such an event.. until last night...  

After the flare died down and the wood was burning, the snacking began.  Wieners were roasted and someone had brought along hot dog buns and even a bottle of ketchup. There were also marshmallows and cookies, and a few other munchies shared around.

While we were snacking and enjoying the fire and company we could hear frogs croaking in the darkness.  One of the fellows proceeded to inform the rest of us that on the island of Newfoundland there were only four types of frogs and one type of toad...  I believe I heard someone declare that this yearly night paddle should be called the "Four Frogs and a Toad" paddle... I kind of like it.

When we were almost back at the wharf in Avondale I made a dash to the slipway so I could take some pics of the other paddlers coming in, but none of the pics came out.

Someone had turned on a flashlight and I thought it might be just enough light to shoot a little video of Old Wobbly as he came into the slipway.  It was slippery getting out of the kayaks and Hazen has a bad hip too, he kind of fell a little and I had to cut the video short and give him a hand...

We helped each other load up the kayaks and then we all headed down the highway, being careful to watch out for the four types of frogs and one toad as we drove home. 

This yearly night paddle was another wonderful success.  We had a small group of eight paddlers, which made keeping track of everyone in the dark very manageable.  It also allowed us to have the opportunity to get a chance to have a little chat to everyone, and to get to know the newer paddlers better that were on this trip.

Thanks to Hazen, Chris, Ryan, Brandon, Cecilia, and Don for a very fun paddle, and a bigger thanks to Alex for leading this trip every year.